Number For Perot Still On Hold

State residents seeking a local number for information on a presidential bid by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot will have to wait.

Although a Dallas-based Perot committee is reported to have received 1.5 million calls on an 800 line in 2 1/2 weeks, no Connecticut number has been set up.

The telephone bank in Dallas, staffed by volunteers, automatically sorts calls by area codes, giving priority to callers from states whose ballot deadlines are coming up soon.

The deadline in Connecticut for submitting a petition to run as an independent in November's presidential election is Aug. 12. Connecticut statutes require the signatures of 14,620 registered voters. The number of required signatures varies from state to state.

Once a computer sorts the calls by priorities, the rest are asked by a computer voice to leave a name and address that will be given to a Perot organizer in the caller's state. Volunteers then will call to make arrangements to put supporters' signatures on a ballot.

It is often difficult to get through, but one volunteer said that callers have better luck if they try in the evening. The telephones are staffed from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Sharon Holman, a Perot employee who oversees the telephone bank, said it is too early to say whether the calls so far translate into the 1 million signatures Perot needs to get on the ballot in all 50 states, but the organization is enthusiastic